As Partner of Prodigy Search, Mark Gress Jr. brings more than 15 years of experience in the sports industry. He initially joined Prodigy Search in early 2015 as Director, Recruiting before being promoted in 2016 to Vice President. Prior to being named a Partner at Prodigy Search, Gress served as Senior Vice President.
Gress previously served three years as Senior Executive Recruiter of a competing agency within sports and entertainment where he successfully recruited and filled numerous positions with organizations in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, NCAA and Motorsports.
Gress’ experience in the executive search industry has brought him success in filling positions for AEG/STAPLES Center, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, PGA TOUR, UFC, World Rowing Championships, Miami Heat, Spencer Educational Foundation, Delaware North Sportservice, NWSL, USA Curling, USA Taekwondo, IMG College, and many more.
Gress’ previous sports experience also includes stints at the Philadelphia Eagles and at the Drexel University Athletics Department.
Prior to joining Prodigy Search in January 2015, Gress served as Director of Career Education for Arcadia University in Glenside, PA.
Prior to that, he spent four years in Drexel University’s career center where he acted as a career counselor for business administration students and all Sport Management students and alumni in one of the most highly-regarded Cooperative Education (Co-op) programs in the world. For the last seven years, he has also served as an Adjunct Professor for Drexel University’s Graduate Sport Management Program.
Over the course of his career, Gress has led and participated in various professional presentations. Most recently at the 2019 National Sports Forum in Las Vegas, he led a session (“Hiring Outside the 'Norm' - Getting Comfortable with Creating a Culture Change”). In 2017, he moderated a session at the National Sports Forum in Minnesota (“Insights on Building and Maintaining a Winning Corporate Culture") and moderated a panel discussion at the University of Miami Sports Industry Conference ("Ask the Recruiter").
Gress graduated from Drexel University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Management (cum laude) and Master of Science degree in Education with a concentration in Sport Management (summa cum laude). Gress, his wife Kristine, and two sons Mark III and Matthew reside in Philadelphia, PA.